In 1859, Penelope finds herself alone, orphaned and widowed. She learns that her inheritance from father and husband are invested in a whaling ship, complete with captain, Micah Daggett. She casts caution to the winds and sails with the ship as the captain's wife. Unexpectedly, she falls in love. During the four-year journey they encounter exotic people and places, romantic and soul-searching times. Their love is tested by confinement of the ship and by duties that pull them apart, like waves that clash and come together on foreign shores. A nefarious Fist Mate dies mysteriously at sea. Penelope suffers a miscarriage. They discover that Micah has a bastard son in Rarotonga, a South Pacific island, and take him with them. Penelope is left behind in Honolulu, with the ten-year old boy, while Micah hunts whales in the Bering Sea. Penelope gives up hope and imagines finding comfort with another man. Micah returns. Eventually they find their place in the world, a safe harbor, San Francisco.